Abstract
The use of parallel kinematic structures allows to design light manipulators with higher dynamic performance with respect to serial robots. In this work, the issue of accurately modelling the dynamics of lightweight flexible-link parallel robots has been investigated. The Equivalent Rigid-Link System (ERLS) formulation, useful for describing the dynamic evolution of 3D serial robots with flexible-links, has been extended to Parallel-Kinematic-Machines (PKM) both from the theoretical and from the software implementation points of view. Standard robotics concepts of 3D kinematics are exploited to formulate and solve the ERLS kinematics, thus allowing to easily work with this formulation. A simulator, capable of predicting the deformations due to the elasticity of the links, has been developed and some industrial case-studies have been implemented to validate it. The formulation and the developed simulator will give the opportunity to extensively study the deformations of parallel manipulators, allow to predict the vibrations of the system, and, then, compensate them.